The Emmaus Syndrome

By John A. Wilson

This sermon is based on one of the events that took place between Jesus’ resurrection and ascension. Its context is Luke 24:13–35, the event of Jesus’ meeting with two men on the road to Emmaus.

The Emmaus story, recorded only in Luke, has great universal appeal. Luke, the physician, seems to be concerned with Jesus’ healing and restoration ministry. In this story Jesus gave hope to two sad men.

The steps I follow in developing a sermon include these:

1. After reading the selected passage a number of times and working to understand the context and any textual problems, I try to develop the proposition which is a short sentence expressing the main point I believe God wants communicated to the people. The proposition should be a complete sentence, including a subject and object. The sermon should be a logical proof of the proposition. I like to think of myself as a trial lawyer working to convince a jury of the truth of the proposition.

The proposition I developed for the Emmaus Syndrome is: “Jesus Christ is the Healer of broken hearts.”

Jesus, the Balm of Gilead

by: Alan Bullock

There are three things I remember about John on the day that I met him.  He was a tree trimmer, an alcoholic and almost dead.  My wife Anoosh and I were sharing our testimony in a church in Michigan when John’s mother came to the altar for prayer.  She told us how he had fallen over 60 feet just two days ago and had broken ten percent of the bones in his body.  Once at the hospital, they found he had one collapsed lung and the other lung was functioning with the assistance of medical equipment.  Our Faith
Why does the cup of peace and plenty,
And our prayers seem distant from on high;
When our requests are oft so very many,
And our faith needs wings to fly?
Why do we oft endure temptation,
And faith bears a heavy load,
As if each were assigned a tribulation
To conquer as days unfold.
Why does our prayer need wait the hour,
When ill befalls His children in gloom;
Is it not to see His wondrous power,
And His love a healing balm of perfume.His family had been praying for years for John to straighten out his life and become a Christian, but now the doctors gave him less than two weeks to live and his family was devastated.   In sheer desperation, his mother asked us to visit and pray for her son.  Standing over his still body, I broke down in tears and began to weep.  In the midst of that terrible scene I had an overwhelming sense to breathe on him.  Call it odd, bizarre or strange if you will, but I knew it was a message from God.  In front of the family and nurses, I breathed heavily into the nostrils of a near-dead man.  A month later John walked out of that hospital room to the astonishment of the doctors and nurses and is now a born again believer.  What perils are you confronting today?   Jesus, our healer,stands ready to breathe the power of the Holy Spirit into your most troubling circumstances.Yes, there is a Balm of Gilead whose healing salve can mend a broken body.  The healing properties of the balm of Gilead were known throughout the world.  Balm is described from antiquity as being a “rare, fragrant and stimulating ointment”.  Its properties to heal wounds bordered on the miraculous.  The miracle power of God lives on through the New Testament church.  I don’t pretend to understand how healing or prayer work, but I know when we pray God hears us.

Trust Him!  Believe in Him! He is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think (Eph. 3:20).

Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord (James 5:14).

Hope and faith are powerful instruments of healing when used with the Word and spoken in the name of Jesus.

MEET THE AUTHOR

ALAN BULLOCK

Alan has pioneered several churches and has also been blessed to travel the world preaching and teaching in churches and conferences as a missionary evangelist for over thirty two years.

Copyright © 2011 by Alan Bullock